Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily! Today’s issue is a fun one: We have some news for you, plus a preview of the week. While there is no UFC this weekend, there are still a few notable MMA cards that we’ll discuss.
Quick reminder: The Knockdown Daily will be off Tuesday, with the next issue being sent out Wednesday.
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News
Frankie Edgar To Join 2024 UFC Hall of Fame Class
Former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this year.
Edgar’s upcoming induction was announced at UFC 297 on Saturday night, where the veteran MMA fighter was in attendance.
Edgar, 42, has fought a rarely seen 30 times in the UFC since 2007. He joined the promotion just six fights into his MMA career, debuting at UFC 67. He became lightweight champion in 2010, dethroning BJ Penn with a unanimous decision result.
Edgar appeared three times as a champion: He beat Penn in a rematch, fought to a draw against Gray Maynard, then scored a fourth-round stoppage against Maynard in their second meeting. His reign ended after 687 days, losing to Benson Henderson at UFC 144.
Edgar’s lightweight title run remains one of the more successful in the division’s history. Only four of 12 champions in the division’s history have defended their belt three or more times (others are Penn, Henderson, and Khabib Nurmagomedov). Edgar’s reign is also the third-longest in the division’s history.
After losing a belt at lightweight, Edgar dropped down to featherweight — a division he would end up spending the majority of his promotional run in. He challenged for a belt at 135 pounds twice during his time.
With seven hours, 57 minutes and 10 seconds of UFC cage time, Edgar is the second-most experienced fighter in the promotion’s history (the first is Rafael dos Anjos, who has fought for nearly eight-and-a-half hours).
Edgar will be joining the UFC Hall of Fame’s “Modern Wing,” which celebrates fighters who started fighting after 2000. Last year, Jose Aldo and Donald Cerrone were inducted under through this category.
KSW Bantamweight Champion Jakub Wiklacz To Face Zuriko Jojua In Match
The country of Georgia has the chance to get their first-ever KSW champion later this year. Zuriko Jojua has been booked to face bantamweight title holder Jakub Wiklacz at KSW 92 on March 16th in Poland.
The clash between Wiklacz and Jojua was initially expected to take place in June of last year at the promotion’s “Colosseum 2” card. However, due to an injury that Jojua sustained, it didn’t happen.
Jojua found himself in a title position after having a strong rookie year in KSW. He made his promotional debut in February 2022, scoring a third-round armbar submission over Shamil Banukayev. He then returned later that year to pick a unanimous decision win over Antun Racic, who previously held the 135-pound belt up until 2021.
Wiklacz, a Polish fighter, will have home country support when he looks to score his first win since becoming champion. He earned the title in late 2022, getting the nod in a close split decision to dethrone Sebastian Przybysz. The fight was already the trilogy bout between the two, as they had previously faced off in 2020 and 2022.
The two rematched in 2023, but their fourth meeting in the rivalry had an usual end. Due to a kick to the head from Wiklacz while Przybysz was grounded in the fourth round, the fight ended in a technical decision. After Wiklacz was deducted two points due to the foul, the fight ended in a draw.
After an odd first appearance as KSW champ, Wiklacz has a chance to score a win in just a couple of months.
A Look At The Week Ahead
Saturday
OKTAGON 52: Magard vs. Cartwright
European MMA promotion OKTAGON will hold their first event of 2024 when they head to the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, England this weekend.
The headlining bout of the evening will see Jonas Magard try to bounce back after losing his OKTAGON Bantamweight Championship to Felipe Lima last year. He’ll have a tough test in his return fight, taking on former Cage Warriors titleholder Jack Cartwright.
Magard first earned OKTAGON’s bantamweight title in 2021, overcoming Filip Macek for a unanimous decision result. He defended his title once after then, scoring a stoppage against Gustavo Lopez in April 2023. His loss to Lima was somewhat of a quick turnaround, putting his title on the line just three months after a previous victory.
Cartwright won his OKTAGON debut just two months ago, scoring a rare americana submission against Junior Assis. This victory got him back to his winning ways after suffering his sole pro defeat to now-UFC fighter Jose Johnson on “Dana White’s Contender Series.”
A notable middleweight matchup will take place in the co-main event of the night as well. Finisher Matej Penaz will look for his third consecutive OKTAGON victory when he faces experienced talent Matthew Bonner, who is coming off a promotional debut win from November 2023.
Aaron Aby will also appear on the main card against Christopher Daniel. Aby lost a flyweight title fight to Elias Garcia last year, with the finish being a doctor stoppage in-between rounds due to a cut on his face.
Here’s a full rundown of the OKTAGON 52 lineup:
Main Card (12:00PM EST / 5:00PM GMT)
Bout 10: Jonas Magard (15-6) vs. Jack Cartwright (11-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 9: Matej Penaz (8-1) vs. Matthew Bonner (16-9-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 8: Aaron Aby (15-8-1) vs. Christopher Daniel (9-3-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 7: Adam Palasz (9-2) vs. Stuart Austin (17-8) (Heavyweight)
Bout 6: Shoaib Yousaf (11-3) vs. Eduard Kexel (9-1) (Featherweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 5: Corey Fry (5-1) vs. Max Holzer (6-0) (Featherweight)
Bout 4: Jan Siroky (13-16) vs. Denis Frimpong (0-2) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Roman Paulus (8-4) vs. Nathan Haywoods (3-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Jake McHugh (1-0) vs. Armand Herczeg (0-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Daniel Bainbridge (2-0) vs. Hamza Dagdeviren (1-1) (Catchweight 137 lbs)
LFA 175: Lopes vs. Brigagao
It’s rare that someone is headlining a card and defending a championship but has the storyline of being back to the drawing board. Yet, that’s the position Bruno Lopes is in this weekend.
Lopes is returning to his home city of Sao Paulo, Brazil this weekend with the goal of defending his LFA Light Heavyweight Championship. However, he’s only in this position due to coming up short last year on “Dana White’s Contender Series.” His September 2023 appearance against Brendson Ribeiro ended with him getting finished in the first round, handing Lopes his first pro loss and launching Ribeiro into the UFC.
Lopes’ first chance at joining the UFC roster didn’t go as planned. However, he’s still in a high-profile position in the sport this weekend. He’ll be trying to defend a belt that he initially earned in 2022 with a second-round finish over Willyandeson Paiva. This weekend gives him a chance to score another title win and pick up his third LFA victory.
He’ll face Marcos Brigagao, a Brazilian talent who has been heavily active on the regional scene since 2017. The 27-year-old — who similar to Lopes appeared and lost on the “Contender Series” in 2019 — is coming off a win over Jonathan Wilson from a Tuff-N-Uff card last year. He doesn’t have the same win percentage or recent consistency as Lopes, but a win this weekend could get a lot of eyes on him and earn him his first title as a pro.
Tons of Brazilian prospects will appear lower on the card this Saturday. Anderson Ferreira will look for his third LFA win in the co-main event, with his two previous promotional victories coming via first-round finish. He’ll square off against Samuel Silva, who is riding a three-fight winning streak from 2023.
LFA 175 is a solid showcase of a growing Brazilian roster in the promotion. Here’s a look at the lineup:
Main Card (9:00PM EST / 11:00PM BRT) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 14: Bruno Lopes (11-1) vs. Marcos Brigagao (17-6) (LFA Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 13: Anderson Ferreira (18-4) vs. Samuel Silva (11-4-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 12: Fernando Laurenco (17-3) vs. Rafael Pereira (10-4) (Bantamweight)
Bout 11: Apollo Gomes (9-1) vs. Vinicius Pires (8-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 10: Marco Tulio (10-1) vs. Cemey dos Santos (6-4) (Middleweight)
Bout 9: Landy Silva (4-0) vs. Naizi Cantanhede (6-0) (Strawweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 8: Miguel Porto (4-1) vs. Kevin Christian (6-2) (LIght Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Nicoly Pedroza (4-0) vs. Andreyna Rocha (5-4) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Marcos Bruno (6-2) vs. Juan Pabo Vieira (6-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 5: Talisson Teixeira (4-0) vs. Arthur Fonseca (2-1) (Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Gabriela Fujimoto (3-0) vs. Sabrina Oliveira (5-2) (Strawweight)
Bout 3: Reginaldo Junior (7-1) vs. Gustavo Henrique (3-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 2: Beatriz Consuli (2-0) vs. Carol Foro (2-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Aieza Bertolso (2-0) vs. Fabrizia Ketlinn (1-0) (Strawweight)
Sunday
ONE 165: Superlek vs. Takeru
ONE Championship’s return to Japan has been a long time coming. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, the Singapore-based combat sports promotion has only been to a few venues.
Despite holding more than 100 broadcasts since July 2020, ONE Championship has only held events in seven different venues. A large portion of the cards have been from Bangkok, Thailand’s IMPACT Arena, the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, or the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
During this time, many of the countries they have focused on for years — including China, Indonesia, and Japan — have not been visited.
The absence of ONE Championship in Japan will end this weekend, as ONE 165 will mark the promotion’s first time in the country since March 2019.
The big focus surrounding ONE 165 will be the promotional debut of former K-1 Champion and high-profile kickboxer Takeru Segawa. Segawa is coming off an incredibly high-profile fight from 2022, bringing in a massive attendance to see him face Tenshin Nasukawa at the Tokyo Dome. Since losing that three-round superfight, Segawa has kept somewhat of a low-profile in kickboxing, apart from a one-off appearance in 2023. That will change this weekend when he challenges ONE Championship’s 135-pound champion, Superlek Kiatmoo9.
Superlek will be trying to defend his kickboxing title for the first time. He initially earned it in early 2023, defeating Daniel Puertas on scorecards to earn the vacant belt. Since then he has appeared under Muay Thai rules four times, winning in each instance.
The pairing between Superlek and Segawa was not originally the plan for ONE 165. Segawa was first expected to meet Rodtang Jitmuangnon — ONE’s 135-pound Muay Thai champ — in a three-round kickboxing bout. However, after Rodtang suffered an injury, an adjustment was made to the lineup just weeks ago. While Superlek comes in on somewhat of a short notice, it is still a massive matchup for Segawa’s first appearance in the promotion.
There are a total of six MMA bouts scheduled for ONE 165. The highest-billed fight is a clash between Japanese MMA veteran Shinya Aoki and UFC alum Sage Northcutt. This fight was first booked for 2021, but didn’t happen at the time due to Northcutt dealing with a COVID-19 diagnosis. Northcutt made his return last year, fighting for the first time since 2019, and stopped Ahmed Mujataba in 39 seconds with a heel hook. He’ll now face Aoki, who has lost his last two appearances.
Grappling ace Garry Tonon will try to earn his third straight victory on the main card when he faces former champion Martin Nguyen. Also, lower in the lineup, ONE vets Itsuki Hirata and Ayaka Miura will meet.
ONE 165 will be a pay-per-view event, with the price of admission being $40 in the U.S. The event will be ONE Championship’s second time running a PPV card over the past two months. Before then, ONE had rarely broadcasted any cards on PPV. A large number of cards have been streamed for free on Youtube, with others being behind slight paywalls, like subscription services Bleacher Report Live or Amazon Prime Video.
PPV is not a rare concept outside of the UFC, although the prices of many other promotions are often lower than the price point of ONE 165. The steep PPV price — for a brand that usually offers its content for free — might turn away some viewers for an event that is already taking place at unusual hours for viewers in U.S. time zones.
Here’s a look at the full lineup:
Main Card (4:30AM EST / 6:30PM JST) (ONE PPV)
Bout 11: Superlek Kiatmoo9 vs. Takeru Segawa (ONE Kickboxing Flyweight Championship) (135 lbs)
Bout 10: Kade Ruotolo vs. Tommy Langaker (ONE Grappling Lightweight Championship) (170 lbs)
Bout 9: Shinya Aoki (47-11) vs. Sage Northcutt (12-3) (Welterweight)
Bout 8: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Nieky Holzken (Catchweight 187 lbs Special Rules)
Bout 7: Marat Grigorian vs. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (Catchweight 157 lbs Kickboxing)
Bout 6: Garry Tonon (8-1) vs. Martin Nguyen (15-6) (Lightweight)
Bout 5: Itsuki Hirata (6-2) vs. Ayaka Miura (12-5) (Strawweight)
Preliminary Card (3:00AM EST / 5:00PM JST) (Youtube)
Bout 4: Danny Kingad (15-3) vs. Yuya Wakamatsu (16-6) (Bantamweight)
Bout 3: Rade Opacic vs. Iraj Azizpour (Heavyweight Kickboxing)
Bout 2: Bokang Masunyane (9-1) vs. Keito Yamakita (8-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Hiroba Minowa (13-4) vs. Gustavo Balart (11-4) (Flyweight)
Notes On: UFC, OKTAGON & Cage Warriors
My latest “Fights To Make” column for Bloody Elbow — looking at potential matchups to put together after Saturday’s UFC 297 card — is available to read now.
Anthony Hernandez (11-2) has gone from one big challenge at UFC 298 to another. While he was originally scheduled to face Ikram Aliskerov (15-1) at the promotion’s February 17th pay-per-view event, news broke Sunday that he is now expected to face Roman Kopylov (11-2), as first reported by Mike Heck of MMA Fighting. Kopylov has some strong momentum at middleweight currently, having picked up four finish wins since 2022. Hernandez is also on a roll, as he has gone undefeated since 2021. His last win was a 2023 finish victory against Edmen Shahbazyan.
Undefeated strawweight Josefine Knutsson (7-0) will look for her second UFC win on March 2nd when she faces Julia Polastri (12-3), as reported this week by Marcel Dorff. Knutsson, a former K-1 Japan kickboxer, won her UFC debut in September 2023 with a unanimous decision victory against Marnic Mann. Polastri will be making her first UFC appearance. The former LFA Strawweight Champion earned a UFC contract last year with a second-round submission win over Patricio Alujas on “Dana White’s Contender Series.”
Chad Anheliger (12-7) and Charalampos Grigoriou (8-3) have been paired up for UFC’s March 16th card, per social media posts made by both fighters. Grigoriou was originally booked to face Toshiomi Kazama (10-4), who had to withdraw from the fight due to an injury. Grigoriou won a UFC contract last year with a 60-second win against Cameron Smotherman on “Dana White’s Contender Series.” Anheliger will be trying to avoid suffering his third consecutive loss.
Two fights have been booked for UFC’s April 6th card from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Undefeated Cesar Almeida (4-0) will make his UFC debut against Josh Fremd (11-5), per Leo Guimaraes. Almeida, a former GLORY Kickboxing talent, earned a UFC contract last year over Lucas Fernando on the “Contender Series.” Fremd had a two-fight winning streak snapped last fall, suffering a second-round finish to Roman Kopylov.
Piera Rodriguez (9-1) will try to come back from her first pro defeat when she fights Cynthia Calvillo (9-6-1), as first reported by Marcel Dorff. Rodriguez had her two-fight UFC winning streak snapped last year by veteran Gillian Robertson, who submitted her with an armbar. She’ll now face Calvillo, who is on an incredibly long five-fight losing streak that dates back to 2020.
UFC is set to hold an event on April 27th, with the location not known at the moment. Two fights have been reported for the card.
MMA HOJE is reporting that Brazilian talents Karine Silva (17-4) and Ariane Lipski (17-8) will meet at flyweight. Lipski is currently on her best winning streak since joining the UFC in 2019, scoring three victories over the past year. Silva is also on an impressive run: She has submitted all three of her UFC opponents thus far in the first round. Her last fight was a guillotine choke win over Maryna Moroz at UFC 292.
“Contender Series” alum James Llontop (14-2) will make his UFC debut against Lando Vannata (12-7-2), per an announcement from Llontop’s management team. Llontop currently has an impressive 12-fight winning streak, including a title run in Peru-based regional promotion FFC. Vannata has lost his past two fights, getting submitted by Charles Jourdain and dropping a decision to Daniel Zellhuber.
A featherweight fight between Jakub Batfalsky (3-0) and Sami Zarabi (3-1) will take place at OKTAGON 53 on February 10th from Oberhausen, Germany. Batfalsky has earned three finish wins on the regional scene since debuting in 2022. Zarabi took his first pro loss a couple of months ago, dropping a decision to Anastasios Chatzigeorgiadis.
Two more fights joined the Cage Warriors 168 card on March 16th from Manchester, England. The headlining title fight between Liam Gittins and Roberto Hernandez was announced earlier this week. You can read about that fight in the Saturday edition of the newsletter.
Manchester’s Sam Kelly (5-2) will try to come back from his sole Cage Warriors defeat when he fights Alessandro Giordano (6-3). Kelly took a loss to Gianluca Scottoli last year, ending a three-fight winning streak that included an 11-second win. Giordano has suffered two losses since joining Cage Warriors in late 2022.
Undefeated Tom Nicholls (2-0) will make his Cage Warriors debut against Craig Rawlins (5-3). Nicholls, still in his rookie year as a pro, has earned a pair of first-round finish wins on the regional scene.